With residents responding to calls to practicing social distance and staying home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, many local businesses are adapting their services to offer ways their customers can have fun and be safe. From online classes to craft kits at home, businesses are answering residents’ requests to keep busy and stay connected in these changing and challenging times.
Movie Fun At Ruskin Family Drive-In
Watch a movie with your family without worrying about germs. The Ruskin Family Drive-In is showing movies where families can stay safe in their own cars.
There is a $5 food permit fee for anyone bringing outside food and drink to the location.
Admittance is $6 a person ages 9 and above and children ages 5-8 are $1. Children under 4 are free.
You may bring your dog with you as long as they are friendly and you clean up after them, and no alcohol is allowed.
To learn more, visit www.ruskinfamilydrivein.com or call 645-1455.
Kerby’s Nursery Offers Garden Fun For All
With children home unexpectedly, many people are looking for things to do. Fortunately, outside everyone’s back door is a yard or garden for them to explore. Kim and Joey Bokor of Kerby’s Nursery in Seffner offer 10 garden projects to do with kids.
Suggestions include planting seeds, setting up a vegetable garden, planting a garden for butterflies, rounding up worms in the garden, going on a bug hunt, planting a miniature garden and creating your own flower.
For more information on these ideas or to learn more about the nursery, call 685-3265 or visit www.kerbysnursery.com.
Florida Aquarium Offers Online Programming
After making the hard decision to close its doors to the public in support of community efforts to limit the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Florida Aquarium launches its first-ever SEA-SPAN Facebook Live to keep kids learning and adults entertained during these difficult times.
Guests can visit the aquarium and be entertained and educated from the comfort of their own living room.
To watch live, just visit the Aquarium’s Facebook page at 10 a.m. The Aquarium will also post the SEASPAN sessions on its website and on YouTube so the shows can be watched on demand.
Tea Parties At Home From Camellia’s Tea Room
Camellia’s Tea Room, located at 3102 Lithia Pinecrest Rd. in Valrico, recently started offering Tea Party To Go packages, which can be picked up at the curbside, and daily family meals.
To learn more, visit camelliastearoom.com or call 278-5213. You can also find regular updates on the business’s Facebook page.
Curbside Pottery To Go Kits
Escape the ‘quarantine blues’ with The Pottery Patch’s new Curbside Paint Your Own Pottery To-Go Kits. Now available, purchase online or call 643-0014 and let representatives help you pick out some fun pottery to paint in the comfort of your own home. Don’t worry about catching an illness (or passing one on).
Studies have shown that creating and painting is relaxing, calms our anxieties and, best of all, fun! Order online or call the studio to pre-purchase your pottery of choice. Drive to the studio and call from your car, and workers will bring out your to-go kit. Return it at your convenience and employees will glaze and fire your projects. Projects will be ready for pickup in seven days.
All kits come with pottery paints, brushes, decorating supplies and directions. Customers can select the pottery pieces they want from its online listing or call the studio and its helpful staff will walk them through the process. Let your kids open their minds and explore their creativity, all while staying safe from illness at home.
The Pottery Patch, a pottery painting studio, is one of the oldest paint and create studios in the Tampa Bay area with over 17 years of entertainment for all ages. With over 600 different pottery and DIY wood projects in stock, it is the perfect spot to create away these quarantine blues.
To learn more, contact Wendy Pettys, owner, at 643-0014 or 601-6691. Visit www.potterypatchstudio.com. The Pottery Patch is located at 2551 S.R. 60 E. in Valrico.
Bricks 4 Kidz Offers LEGO Challenges With Prizes
Stuck at home with the kids? Bricks 4 Kidz can help them stay busy and get you some prizes too. Each challenge lasts 24 hours.
Post the picture of your completed challenge in the comments, and the one with the most Facebook likes will win a free Bricks 4 Kidz Summer Camp. That’s a $300 value, so tag your friends when you comment to get more likes. The winners will be announced daily.
To learn more, find Bricks 4 Kidz Tampa on Facebook or visit www.bricks4kidz.com.
TADA Offers Online Arts Experiences
Theatre Arts and Dance Alliance (TADA) is always looking for new and creative ways to solve problems. This situation is no different.
While TADA feels it is socially responsible to limit large numbers of students in dance studios and large groups in the lobby, it can still continue to deliver the exceptional dance, music and theater experience you know and love at Theatre Arts and Dance Alliance.
Thanks to new technology, the studio is opening its digital doors and providing an online arts experience using Zoom.us as a platform.
Email any questions to office@tadance.com.
To learn more about TADA, visit www.tadance.com or call 571-0901.
AR Workshop Offers DIY To-Go
Crafters need not panic. During times of social distancing, AR Workshop has a solution. The business is putting together DIY To-Go Kits that can be picked up at the curbside at the Valrico location so that crafters can make projects in the comfort and safety of their own home.
Kits can be ordered online and picked up during regular pickup windows. To learn more, visit www.arworkshop.com or call 775-7109. AR Workshop is located at 1046 Bloomingdale Ave. in Valrico.
Art Monkey Emporium Adapts With Crafts And Ice Cream
Parents looking for fun crafts to do with their children while school is out should look no further than Art Monkey in FishHawk Ranch’s Park Square.
The business is offering to-go craft kits, from Easter-themed art work to night-light kits, that can be ordered in advance and picked up at the store to be assembled at home. The store also offers pint-sized containers of Big Olaf ice cream for pick up too.
To learn more, visit www.artandicecream.com or call 315-9803.
Glazer Children’s Museum Takes Learning And Playing Online
Once the Glazer Children’s Museum closed its doors to the public last month, employees quickly started offering online programming for children and parents to enjoy safely with GCM at Home.
GMC at Home, a new section of the museum’s website, hosts videos, printable activities pages, recipes and other fun ideas for families to try while complying with social distancing.
Follow along at www.GlazerMuseum.org/GCMatHome.
